ToCS - Shorties
by K.haosprinz
Summary: Just a bunch of very short stories inspired by one-word-prompts. Beware of spoilers for the first two games. All kinds of genres & some ships. Some are AU. Read the Author's Note at the end of the first chapter for further information.


**A** rsenal

"Rean, love of my miserable life~"

"No, Crow, just't don't."

"You wound me! Here I was, trying to proclaim the true depth of my furiously burning feelings for you-"

" _Crow. No._ "

"- and you just brush them away! Woe is me, why did I have to fall for such a dashing-"

"..."

"-knight such as you? Why does humble me have to fight dozens of fair maidens and rakish squires for the right to earn even the teensiest bit of affection granted by your tender touch-"

"... What do you want?"

"Aside from being cradled in the safety of your strong, unwavering arms?"

 _"Crow."_

"Just a little bit of _crowfunding_ for my latest project."

"..."

"C'mon, Rean, don't leave a bro hanging. You know what, I'll even share the results with you. I won't spoil all the excitement, but it involves-"

"I don't even want to know. Here, take this and go bug someone else, I need to have this report finished by Friday. By the way, are _you_ done wi-"

"Ah, I knew the ever-flaming torch of love I carry in my heart for you would reach you one day! Hold me, my gallant knight, for the intense struggle of burning my way through ice's clutches on your heart has left me faint and powerless! ❤"

"... I'm _so_ hoping Dorothee isn't anywhere nearby. How does one person even _think_ of all that stuff you're saying?"

"You don't like it? I see, cheesy isn't the way to win you over. But alas, I shan't give up! Then I'll just take a different approach into the depths of your stony heart."

"Please don't."

"You know what would look good on me?"

"..."

" _You_ would."

"..."

"My love for you is like diarrhea- I just can't stop it from coming out!"

Somewhere close, a female second-year with long, dark hair tied into a braid was furiously scribbling notes into a small book covered with doodles of slightly questionable content. She could barely keep her excitement to herself as she heard a heavy _thwump_ from inside, before that black-haired first-year she'd seen running errands for the student council stormed out of the classroom, expression pained but with an _oh so adorable_ blush covering his cheeks. She didn't even care about her glasses fogging up when, shortly after, her former classmate left the room as well, deftly pocketing some Mira while nursing a rather large bump on his forehead with a stupid grin that looked positively _smitten_.

* * *

 **B** lade

More than once would Crow Armbrust and Rean Schwarzer find themselves wondering what their Divine Knights were up to during all those hours of them being alone in the storage room. They were sentient, after all, but the two Awakeners couldn't even hazard a guess as to what two humongous, human-like mechas could be doing together during their spare time. They both just filed that thought away pretty quickly after it would arise, assuming they were just inactive to recover mana for the next inevitable battle. After all, what else _could_ they be doing?

 **Meanwhile, in the storage room behind the engineering building:**

"I shall use a Bolt card."

"That was unexpected. I will reply in kind with a Mirror, then."

"Hm. It appears this round is yours, Ordine. My last remaining card has a value of three, which I am sure you can best."

"Indeed, Valimar. That leaves us at an overall score of 22 to 37. Allow me to deal the next hand."

"Very well. I am most impressed, though. It appears your Awakener's love for this game has indeed influenced you as well."

"That is quite possible. You, however, seem to have adapted some of your Awakener's stubbornness."

"Ha. That does appear to be the case. Let us draw."

"You're on."

* * *

 **C** rossbow

On one sunny September afternoon, Rean found himself sprawled on his stomach in Crow's bed, studying a heavy book on military history. Suddenly, something interesting caught his eye and he spoke up, his voice perfectly neutral.

"You know, you should've picked up a crossbow instead of orbal guns."

Next to him, Crow, lying on his back, slowly raised an eyebrow at him. Rean merely held up the book, pointing at a picture showing a crossbow.

"These were also called 'Armbrust' back in the day", was his only explanation before lowering his book again to continue reading.

Crow's face was void of any emotion as he watched for a few seconds before he very, _very_ slowly closed the magazine he'd been flipping through. He rolled it up, raising his right hand in front of his face, wiggling his pointer finger-

"No, no."

\- and smacked Rean over the head with the paper before opening it again to return to the article he'd been reading.

Rean next to him erupted into laughter.

* * *

 **H** andwriting

"Hey, Crow?"

"Hmm?"

"How come I can read your handwriting on these better than Emma's, while I normally need both a dictionary _and_ a magnifying glass to decipher even half of what you're writing?"

A brief pause.

"What do you mean?"

"Here. Your handwriting is as terrible as ever on these-"

A slender finger pointed on notes that had been taken earlier today during class.

"But it's perfectly clear and readable on these."

Another brief pause. Red eyes slowly shift to meet grey ones.

"No special reason. Less time for jotting down info while Instructor Neithardt is hammering us with it. Gotta get things down fast. The others are from when I looked things up on my own- if you believe it or not, that _does_ happen from time to time. But you'll have to excuse me now- business beckons."

"... I'm not even going to ask. Just... don't do anything that might get one of the instructors on your case. Or anything that would increase Towa's- and therefore _my_ \- workload."

"Heh, I won't. Laters~"

Rean watched his older friend's retreating back. As soon as the silver hair was out of sight, his eyes wandered back to the notes in his hand. Something still struck him as weird, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Figuring that mulling over such a thing would be pointless, Rean just shrugged after a moment before entering his own dorm room. He hadn't talked Crow into giving these to him without a reason, after all.

* * *

 **T** repidation

Outside of Class VII's dorm, one particular Crow Armbrust made a beeline to the path leading to Micht's Pawn Shop which was thankfully abandoned. Actually, there was no business waiting for him. He had just needed to get out of there, and fast.  
For some reason, he'd almost slipped. He leaned against the wall, staring at his left hand as if its very existence was a federal offence. _He'd gotten careless._ ̶O̶̶r̶̶ ̶̶w̶̶o̶̶r̶̶s̶̶e̶̶:̶̶ ̶̶H̶̶a̶̶d̶̶ ̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶t̶̶a̶̶r̶̶t̶̶e̶̶d̶̶ ̶̶ _c̶̶a̶̶r̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶_?̶̶ ̶̶N̶̶o̶̶!̶ Shooting a brief prayer upwards to Aidios, he thanked her on his metaphorical knees that it had been Rean to question him. Good, naïve ̶t̶̶r̶̶u̶̶s̶̶t̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶,̶̶ ̶̶k̶̶i̶̶n̶̶d̶̶,̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶t̶̶e̶̶a̶̶d̶̶f̶̶a̶̶s̶̶t̶̶-̶̶ ̶̶ _b̶̶e̶̶t̶̶t̶̶e̶̶r̶̶s̶̶t̶̶o̶̶p̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶r̶̶e̶_ Rean.

He could feel a wry smile sneaking onto his face, accompanied by the faintest trace of something heavy settling in his chest. He was getting far too comfortable. ̶N̶̶o̶̶,̶̶ ̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶d̶̶o̶̶e̶̶s̶̶n̶̶'̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶l̶̶i̶̶k̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶i̶̶d̶̶e̶̶a̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶l̶̶l̶̶-̶ He'd actually _forgotten_ about the very reason he was attending this academy in the first place, for however short of a time frame that might have been. ̶J̶̶u̶̶s̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶ ̶̶m̶̶i̶̶n̶̶u̶̶t̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶o̶̶r̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶w̶̶o̶̶.̶̶ ̶̶S̶̶u̶̶r̶̶e̶̶l̶̶y̶̶ ̶̶n̶̶o̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶f̶̶o̶̶r̶̶ ̶̶m̶̶u̶̶l̶̶t̶̶i̶̶p̶̶l̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶h̶̶o̶̶u̶̶r̶̶s̶̶.̶ He'd actually _forgotten_ and just acted like any other second year would towards his junior on _instinct_. He'd always taken care to never let anyone else see anything he was writing down in private- Not even Towa or Gelica or George had in over a year- he could do almost everything with his right hand just fine.

Except for writing. No matter how hard he tried, it always looked like an essay written by a severely spasming swine. Closing his eyes, the young man took a deep breath to regain his focus, forcing the heavy feeling inside of him away as well. When he opened his red orbs again, his smile widened and even took on a slightly deprecating turn. He dragged his hand through his hair while pushing away from the wall he'd been slouching against. He had to focus. _Focus._ This little charade was almost over. Only six more weeks. ̶O̶̶n̶̶l̶̶y̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶i̶̶x̶̶ ̶̶m̶̶o̶̶r̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶w̶̶e̶̶e̶̶k̶̶s̶̶.̶̶.̶̶.̶ No chance in _hell_ would he let a little, naïve first-year allow to screw him over. Not now, not when he'd come so _far_. ̶B̶̶e̶̶c̶̶a̶̶u̶̶s̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶i̶̶f̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶n̶̶y̶̶o̶̶n̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶c̶̶o̶̶u̶̶l̶̶d̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶h̶̶i̶̶s̶̶ ̶̶p̶̶o̶̶i̶̶n̶̶t̶̶,̶̶ ̶̶i̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶w̶̶o̶̶u̶̶l̶̶d̶̶ ̶̶b̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶ _h̶̶i̶̶m̶̶_.̶

And with that, the _perfect_ persona of Crow Armbrust, slacking and gambling, but reliable and caring second-year, slipped back into place. ̶O̶̶r̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶l̶̶m̶̶o̶̶s̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶p̶̶e̶̶r̶̶f̶̶e̶̶c̶̶t̶̶,̶̶ ̶̶j̶̶u̶̶d̶̶g̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶h̶̶e̶̶a̶̶v̶̶y̶̶ ̶̶f̶̶e̶̶e̶̶l̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶ ̶̶i̶̶n̶̶ ̶̶h̶̶i̶̶s̶̶ ̶̶c̶̶h̶̶e̶̶s̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶s̶̶i̶̶m̶̶p̶̶l̶̶y̶̶ ̶̶ _r̶̶e̶̶f̶̶u̶̶s̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶̶_ ̶̶t̶̶o̶̶ ̶̶l̶̶e̶̶a̶̶v̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶e̶̶n̶̶t̶̶i̶̶r̶̶e̶̶l̶̶y̶̶.̶

* * *

 **Note for "Crossbow":** Crow's surname "Armbrust" is literally the German word for "crossbow". Other phrases within the game like "Stahlritter" or "Eisengraf" are also German, so this is where this idea came from.

 **Note for "Handwriting"/"Trepidation":** "Trepidation" is a direct sequel to "Handwriting", in case you haven't noticed.

* * *

 **Important Information**

As I've already mentioned in the summary, some of these stories are obviously AU. Not all will contain ships, but some will & those will vary. Also: Spoilers. Second also: Some will be kinda cracky. Third also: I'm a major sucker for Crow & Rean, so those two will appear the most. Final also: Sometimes, one of these shorties will be some kind of prequel or sequel to another shorty. That will be mentioned at the end of each chapter, the same way I did here. (Don't bother to suggest I put those at the beginning. If there's something I dislike, it's A/Ns at the beginning of a chapter.)

This was initially started as an A-Z thing, but since I couldn't think of words for some letters for the _life_ of me, I instead decided to just do it like this. I will upload those in batches of five. No idea when the next batch will come up since I'm still busy with my DMC/EA crossover, but I had to get those down for now, so here they are.

Feel free to throw some prompt at me. Only one or two words per prompt, though, no entire sentences or plotlines- I would like to think of these myself. This also means that I might not have an idea, so just because you're suggesting something, don't expect me to do it. I'm not making any promises, just saying you can do it if you want to.


End file.
